Cops Blame Running Back McCoy for Bar Fight

PHILADELPHIA (CN) — Two Philadelphia cops want National Football League star running back LeSean McCoy to pay up for claims that he knocked them out in a February nightclub brawl while they were off duty. In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, Roland Butler and Darnell Jessie claim they missed two months of work with injuries inflicted by the Buffalo Bills running back and two others during the fight. The scuffle allegedly broke out Feb. 7 in the VIP lounge of a private downtown Philadelphia nightclub after a verbal disagreement about the rightful owner of a bottle of champagne. Butler says he was initially met with a punch in the face when he told McCoy’s companion that the bottle in question belonged to him, and then all three assailants began kicking him as he lay on the ground. McCoy also punched Jessie in the eye when he attempted to intervene in the fracas, according to the lawsuit. Butler and Jessie claim that the beating left them with broken ribs and a concussion, respectively, along with other injuries that required surgery for Butler. Citing insufficient evidence, Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams declined to press criminal charges against McCoy and his cohorts after an investigation earlier this year. In the wake of that controversial decision, which was lambasted by the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police, the alleged victims turned to the civil courts in search of justice. They’re seeking at least $50,000 in compensatory and punitive damages for claims of apparent assault and battery, civil conspiracy and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The men say they “were caused to suffer serious mental anguish…as a direct and proximate result of [McCoy’s] negligent, intentional, unlawful, reckless and malicious acts.” Though criminal charges for the alleged incident proved as elusive as football’s onetime leading rusher often is on the field, the NFL may still discipline McCoy for his role in the incident, according to reports. The athlete is no stranger to controversy in Philadelphia, where he spent the bulk of his professional career before being traded to Buffalo in March 2015. McCoy was also sued in May 2013 by a woman who claimed that she had been roughed up by the running back and his security guard on a party bus. That suit was settled without a jury trial. The police officers’ Tuesday complaint also points the finger at nightclub Recess Lounge for allowing the scrum to occur in the first place. Security staffers were positioned at the venue’s entrance and inside its facility throughout the time the men were there, but failed to intervene when the melee ensued, the complaint states. Butler and Jessie say the bar is also liable for serving alcohol to the “visibly” intoxicated McCoy and friends, at least one of whom was “habitually drunk and…of known intemperate habits,” according to the complaint. McCoy’s companions, Tamarcus Porter and Christopher Henderson, were also named as defendants in the complaint. Porter was the first one to throw a punch in the altercation, the lawsuit alleges. An email inquiry to Recess Lounge, which was also sued under its alternate name The Manayunk Club, was not returned Wednesday. McCoy’s agent Drew Rosenhaus also did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday evening. During the February police investigation into the alleged assault, McCoy was represented by Philadelphia criminal attorney Dennis Cogan. Cogan could not be reached for comment, and it is unclear whether he still represents the NFL star. Butler and Jessie, meanwhile, are represented by William Davis of Philadelphia firm McMonagle, Perri, McHugh & Mischak.